


Better

by HawkyBarton



Series: OTP and Fanfic Brigade (Prompts galore) [57]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Did I Mention Angst?, I CAN'T THINK OF ANY OTHER TAGS, M/M, So beware, all the avengers have sadness, anngsssssssst, fluff at the ending, follows blindspot canon somewhat i believe, kinda graphic, prompt, so much angst man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 17:12:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4754480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkyBarton/pseuds/HawkyBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fight was almost over when Clint was shot through the shoulder with an arrow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked: I'm going to send a prompt like the last where Clint is the youngest and we can just coo over him but angst. First though, I absolutely LOVE all of your writing, you're amazing. Okay. They're on a mission and it's going pretty well, it seems wrapped up until and arrow goes into Clint's shoulder, and Clint sees Barney did it. Barney is hellbent on killing Clint, and makes it obvious. The Avengers all protect him (everyone does tbh) but eventually brotherly showdown and Clint has to kill him. can you imagine afterward I mean Clint would just let out one of those tortured, anguished screams, that makes everyone's heart ache. He just killed his big brother. And Clint isn't doing well after it. He clings to people. Not just Coulson, hell even Fury had Clint curled up under his desk while the Avengers were out on a mission. But they finally break through to him and it's sad but fluff and idk bro, I have feels.

They were fighting giant mutant pandas. 

They pandas would have been adorably huge if they weren’t trying to destroy lower Manhattan. 

Luckily, though the pandas were mutated, they still acted like their small compatriots. 

How Stark was able to find gigantic bamboo sticks was beyond Clint, but he was never one to argue with science and money. 

They were just about to finish up the battle, the pandas being lead back to a SHIELD base in the country, when Phil started to speak.  

“Alright Clint, you can get down from your perch and come help clean up” Phil said over the comms. 

Clint grinned and collapsed his bow, already turning around to go to the exit on the roof, when pain flared through his left shoulder blade. 

Gasping in pain, Clint fell to his knees. 

“Clint? Are you okay? What happened?” Phil spoke over the comms. 

Hissing, Clint looked down and noticed that an arrow was sticking through his shoulder. 

“Sniper. Archer. What the hell?” Clint rasped through the pain.

“What? Clint stay where you are, I’m rerouting Tony to you...” Phil said quickly.

Clint shook his head and turned on his knees to see who his attacker was.

“... _Barney???”_

There, standing across from him, was the brother Clint thought long dead. 

“Hey little bro, happy to see me?”

Clint groaned and reached up to snap the arrow in half before removing it from his shoulder. _Phil is gonna kill me for that later.  
_

“What the hell are you doing here Barn? What the hell are you doing alive? I thought you were dead!”

Barney shrugged, “I was. Then some weird ass scientist brought me back to life. To repay him, I’ve been sent to kill you”

Clint blinked,  “Who?”

“Zemo”

“Shit. Phil, tell Tony to back off”

“No way Legolas!” Tony said before Phil could respond. 

“Back off Tony. This is between me and my brother”

Before Tony could respond again, Clint threw out his comm. 

“Well, if you’re here to kill me. I guess I’m gonna have to fight back...”

Barney smirked, “Just like old times, eh? Except this time, I’m gonna win”

Clint shook his head, “You don’t have to do this Barney. You could stop this now and come back with me. We could get to know each other again... I’ve missed you...”

Barney shook his head, “It’s too late little man. Years too late.”

Clint clenched his fists, “Fine. So be it... “

Barney smirked and raised his bow, an arrow shooting as, but before it could hit Clint it was snatched from the air. 

“If you think I’m letting you die because you wanna battle your bro, you’re sorely mistaken” Tony said through the mask. 

Clint huffed, “Tony move!” 

Tony ignored him and turned to shoot at Barney, to find the other man already gone. “What the hell?”

The _hiss_ of another arrow shooting through the air came from behind Clint. Spinning around to catch it before it hit, Clint found that Thor had already caught the arrow. 

“That was a close one Barton! Don’t worry, we shall help you foil your brother!”

Clint growled and it continued. Steve next, then Natasha, and then the hulk. All trying to help Barney and Clint not actually fight. 

Unable to watch his friends fight his brother, Clint snuck away from them and found his way to Barney’s perch. 

“Why don’t you give shooting at my friends a rest, put down the bow, and fight me like a man?” Clint said behind him. 

Barney spun around and dropped the bow. “If that’s the way you want it little bro, you got it”

Clint took a deep breath and raised his fists, resigning himself to Barney doing the same. 

Barney took a swing at him, and Clint ducked. Then he parried, and knocked the legs out from underneath Barney. 

Barney rebutted with tackling Clint’s legs and bringing them both down to the ground.

Clint had always been the quickest of the two brothers, but Barney had always had their father’s brute strength on his side. Wrestling for control, Clint and barney rolled across the roof, both trying to gain the upper hand. 

Getting tired from the blood loss from his shoulder, Clint’s muscles relaxed a fraction, and he was on his back. 

Looking upwards, Clint tried to plead with Barney, but was soon cut off when Barney’s hands clamped around his throat, squeezing. 

Before this moment, Clint had thought that Barney wouldn’t really kill him, but now he knew. Barney wasn’t playing. 

Loosing consciousness, Clint only had one option if he wanted to live. Grabbing onto Barney with the last of his strength, he rolled the both of them over to the edge of the building, and then off of it.

Falling through the air, Barney let go of Clint to try and somehow stop his fall.   

Spotting a balcony that he could grab onto, Clint tried to grab Barney’s hand,  but was rejected. 

Hanging onto the railing of the balcony, Clint watched in horror as Barney fell to his death against the concrete.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!” Clint screamed before letting out a huge sob. “Barney no!”

Wanting to drop down to the ground himself, Clint was swooped out of the air by Tony. “Come on Legolas, it’s over. Let’s go home”

“NO!” Clint yelled, jerking in Tony’s arms. “Put me down next to him!”

“Phil doesn’t want me to do that Clint, he said to bring you to the van”

Clint whimpered and looked at Tony through the mask, “Please Tony! Put me down!”

Sighing, Tony muttered to himself and dived down to the ground and placed Clint next to Barney Barton‘s dead body. 

Dropping to his knees, Clint thought nothing of the blood pooling out of Barney, and cradled him to his chest. “I killed you! I killed you! Oh god Barney, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Sobbing, Clint pressed his forehead to Barney’s, refusing to move from the scene despite multiple attempts from the rest of the team. 

Clint just cradled Barney to his chest, rocking them back and forth, until Barney’s body went completely cold. Only then did he lay barney back down and press a kiss to his forehead and stood up. 

Arms wrapped around his tight and moved him away from the body and over to the quinjet waiting to take them back to the Avengers tower. 

Clinging to the arms that were still around him, Clint didn’t budge an inch from Phil’s side the entire trip home, nor did he let go the rest of the day.

He didn’t respond to questions or requests, he just clung to Phil and saw his brother in front of him whenever he closed his eyes. 

 

~

Phil was worried about Clint. It had been almost three months since Barney Barton’s death, and Clint still refused to talk to anyone about it. 

Walking through the halls of SHIELD after yet another Avengers mission Clint was benched from, Phil contemplated on how to help his archer, but could come up with nothing that hadn’t already been tried. 

Shaking his head, Phil reached Fury’s office and knocked twice before entering. 

“Marcus,” he said quietly. 

Nick looked up, “He’s sleeping under my desk. If I hadn’t brought the kid in myself at age 15, this would be damn awkward Cheese.”

Phil sighed, “Thank you Marcus. I’ll take him home”

Nick nodded and moved his chair away from the desk so Phil could reach underneath and grab Clint. 

“Take your boy home Cheese, and keep him there until he gets better. He needs to be somewhere safe, not somewhere that keeps reminding him of what he allegedly did to his brother”

Phil nodded and cuddled Clint to his chest, “I will. See you tomorrow”

Nick waved an imperial hand, and away Phil went.

 

~

Clint came awake on a soft mattress with all the Avengers in a puppy pile surrounding him, a Disney movie playing on the TV. 

“Hey sleeping beauty,” Tony teased gently. 

Clint gave Tony a small smile before looking around and immediately clinging to Phil. 

Phil sighed and scratched Clint’s hair with his fingernails, making the younger man purr. “Clint, you know you can’t keep this bottled inside you forever”

“That’s right Clint. It’s not good to keep everything inside” Steve said with a smile. 

Clint sighed, “It hurts so much. He was a shitty older brother, but he took care of me when i was younger. He fought all of my battles until we got to the circus. I even tried to reason with him, I tried to save him. But he moved my hand away and let himself fall..... I keep seeing it every night when I sleep”

Phil cuddled Clint to his chest and kissed his hair. 

“I feel the same way you know,” Steve said quietly. “When Bucky fell of the train and I couldn’t save him”

“I too felt this remorse when Loki threw himself off the Bifrost, refusing my help” Thor added. 

“And I almost lost Pepper during my fight with AIM” Tony finished. “I still get nightmares”

Clint sniffed and looked at his friends who all had the same problems that he did. Smiling, Clint felt better than he had in weeks. Not quite okay, he wasn’t sure he would ever be okay. But better.

**Author's Note:**

> (( You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask) ))


End file.
